What’s New and Familiar in Windows 11

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Microsoft describes Windows 11 as being “fresh and familiar,” and while that sounds paradoxical, it’s true. That is, Windows 11 offers a fresh new user experience that is simpler, prettier, and more modern than that of its predecessor, Windows 10. But it is also instantly familiar, providing all of the same basic interfaces that Windows users expect, know, and use.

We will dive into these topics in more detail throughout the book, but here is a quick breakdown of the major changes, improvements, and features available in Windows 11.

New design

The first thing you’ll notice when you boot into Windows 11 is its fresh new design. Microsoft has dramatically simplified the user interface in Windows 11 while retaining the basic look and feel of Windows 10. This means that familiar interfaces like the Desktop, Taskbar, and Start are all present as before, but they’re also more streamlined and prettier now. Even the system sounds have been completely overhauled to help create an overall sense of calm.

Where did it go?

One side-effect of Microsoft’s simplification work in Windows 11 is that some common interfaces in Windows 10 are now harder to find, require extra steps, or are simply missing. We will point out these stumbling blocks as needed and any workarounds when available.

At a high level, the new Windows 11 design consists of several key components. It’s simpler and more modern looking than Windows 10, and more naturally transitions between Light and Dark modes. Key interfaces like the Start menu and the icons on the Taskbar are now centered by default, and more closely resemble similar interfaces on mobile platforms like Android and iPhone. And windows and controls now display with curved corners, which helps to make Windows 11 feel calmer and cleaner.

Lock screen and sign-in screen

The lock screen appears When you power on or wake up your PC. The version you see in Windows 11 is very similar to that of Windows 10, but it’s been updated with the new Windows 11 font treatment.

Where did it go?

The Windows 11 lock screen doesn’t have any new features, but it is missing one feature from Windows 10: you can no longer configure up to 7 apps that can display quick status alerts. (You can still configure a single app to display detailed status alerts.) There is no workaround.

When you click past the lock screen, Windows 11 will display the Sign-in screen, where you authenticate your account and sign in to Windows. There are no functional changes to this screen.

Desktop

The Windows 11 Desktop is largely unchanged from that of Windows 10, and you will find the same basic functionality, with the same default icons—Recycle Bin and Microsoft Edge—as before.

Like other top-level interfaces in Windows 11, the Desktop has, of course, been updated with new wallpapers and the new design. Context menus—which are accessed as before by right-clicking the Desktop or icons on the Desktop—are simplified, with fewer choices than before, graphically updated, and feature the same rounded corners seen in Windows and other controls.

Where did it go?

The word “simplified” should act as a trigger for power users because in this case it means that some options that were previously available in the Desktop’s context menus are no longer available, at least by default, in Windows 11.

Taskbar

Windows 11 delivers an all-new Taskbar along the bottom of the screen. As before, it features a Start button and a row of icons representing pinned app shortcuts and running apps. And there is a system tray with system icons and a clock and calendar display to the far right.

But the Windows 11 Taskbar also brings some changes. Those rows of app icons are now centered by default. Microsoft places four new default items in the Taskbar: a Widgets icon with a weather display in the far left and then Search, Task view, and Chat icons to the right of the Start button.

And there are other, less obvious changes: the Network, Volume, and Power system icons are now interconnected and launch the new Quick Settings interface when selected. And the clock and date display launches two new interfaces, Notifications and Calendar, when selected.

Where did it go?

The Windows 11 Taskbar can be configured to display its icons—and the Start menu—on the left side of the screen, but it is missing many key features that you may be used to. For example, you can no longer move the Taskbar to the top, left, or right edge of the screen, and it no longer supports a small icon mode.

As bad, where the Windows 10 Taskbar displayed a large context menu with many choices when right-clicked, the Windows 11 Taskbar displays just a single choice, “Taskbar settings,” which launches the Settings app and navigates to Personalize > Taskbar.

Start

Like the Taskbar, the Start menu in Windows 11 is all-new, and a major departure from its predecessors.

The basics are the same, of course: you can still find and launch apps, and access Start search and shortcuts to options related to user accounts and power.

But the Windows 11 Start menu features a simpler new design with two major areas, Pinned, for app shortcuts, and Recommended, which commingles recently installed apps and recently accessed documents and files.

Start offers basic customization capabilities. You can add, remove, and reposition icons as desired, and even arrange them in folders. And you can choose between three different layouts.

Where did it go?

As with the Taskbar, the new Start menu missing some expected functionality, including some features that were present in Windows 10. The most obvious is live tiles, but the new Start menu also can’t be resized, and there are no options for removing the Pinned or Recommended areas. These regressions are explored further in the Start chapter.

Tip: To toggle the Start menu with the keyboard, type WINKEY.

Widgets

Windows 11 includes a new web-based interface called Widgets that is accessible via a new icon that sits at the left end of the Taskbar.

It displays a customizable board—Microsoft’s term—of widgets, which are small cards that display dynamic data from apps and online services. It is pre-configured to display personal information like weather, photos, local news and sports, traffic, and the like at the top and then a scrolling list of news and other web-based articles that may be of interest.

Widgets replaces a Windows 10 feature called News and interests, and it looks and works similarly.

Tip: To toggle Widgets with the keyboard, type WINKEY + W.

Search

As with previous Windows versions, Windows 11 features multiple entry points to *Search*, or what we used to call Start search. One of the more discoverable is the prominent Search box on the Taskbar, which can be configured to display as a Search icon or Search icon and label, or be disabled altogether.

To configure how Search appears in the Taskbar, right-click an empty area of the Taskbar and choose “Taskbar settings” from the context menu that appears.

You can also access Search from Start. When you select the Start icon, the Start pane appears, offering a search box, recent items from Start, and a new feature called Search highlights that displays something interesting related to the current day along with trending web searches you may find interesting.

As with the Search interface in Windows 10, you will find a more traditional Start search-like experience when you begin typing a search term. And as before, you can filter the results to display only apps, documents, web results, or other items.

Tip: You can also launch Search by typing WINKEY + S.

Task view

Like Windows 10, Windows 11 supports a Task view interface that lets you select running apps and other open windows, and do so across multiple virtual desktops. This interface can also be used to manage desktops: you can create new desktops, close existing desktops, and move apps and windows between different desktops.

In addition to sporting a new layout and visual style, Task view in Windows 11 no longer supports the Timeline feature from Windows 10.

Tip: You can also display Task view by typing WINKEY + TAB.

Chat

The Chat icon that’s available by default on the Windows 11 Taskbar opens a new app called Chat from Microsoft Teams. But this isn’t the multi-functional Microsoft Teams client you may use at work. Instead, Chat is a new lightweight Teams experience designed to work with your consumer Microsoft account and let you quickly start a text-based chat or an audio or video call with friends and family.

Complicating matters, if you do use Teams at work (or school), you still need to install that app in Windows 11 and run both side-by-side, one for personal use and one for work (or school). They at least use slightly different-looking icons.

Chat replaces a Windows 10 feature called Meet Now, which was based on the older Skype app.

Tip: You can also launch Chat by typing WINKEY + C.

Quick settings

As its name implies, Quick settings provides quick access to commonly-needed system settings. It appears when you select the Network, Volume, or Power icons in the system tray.

The quick settings buttons at the top of the Quick Settings pane replace the quick actions tiles found in the Windows 10 Action Center.

Tip: You can also display Quick settings by typing WINKEY + A.

Notifications and Calendar

When you select the time/date display in the system tray, the Notifications and Calendar panes appear.

Notifications is Windows 11’s notifications manager, so it contains previous app or system notifications you may have missed. It also has a Do Not Disturb button for muting notifications so you can focus.

The Notifications pane replaces the notifications functionality that was previously available in the Windows 10 Action Center.

Calendar provides a read-only view of the current month with the current day highlighted. You can also use its Focus button—and related focus timer—to start a focus session.

The Calendar pane in Windows 11 is an unsatisfactory replacement for the Clock/calendar pane that appeared when you selected the time/date in the Taskbar in Windows 10. This calendar is not interactive, and it does not let you add events and meetings as did the Clock/calendar pane in Windows 10.

Tip: You can also display the Notifications and Calendar panes by typing WINKEY + N.

Quick access menu

The Quick access menu in Windows 11 provides links to advanced legacy system tools like Device Manager, Disk Management, and Power Options. This tool existed in Windows 10 and it continues forward with just minor changes.

To display the Quick Access menu, right-click the Start button.

Tip: You can also type WINKEY + X to display this menu.

File Explorer

File Explorer has been extensively redesigned for Windows 11, with tabs, a new navigation pane layout, new startup folder options, a new Favorites section in the Home view, and improved OneDrive integration.

Tips: Fans of keyboard shortcuts can type WINKEY + E to open a new File Explorer window.

Multitasking

Windows 11 provides the same basic multitasking features that you are familiar with from previous Windows versions. But each has been visually updated, and there is some useful new functionality as well.

ALT + TAB

ALT + TAB is the original multitasking keyboard shortcut in Windows—as you would expect, it’s triggered by typing ALT + TAB—and it lets you switch between any open apps, windows, and, by default, the five most recently-accessed Microsoft Edge tabs. ALT + TAB appears as a pane, and only while you hold down the ALT key.

Task view

As noted earlier in this chapter, Task view works similarly to ALT + TAB, while adding additional functionality. First, the interface is full-screen and persistent, so you don’t need to hold down the TAB key to keep it on screen. Second, Windows 11 provides a Taskbar icon for Task view by default so you can easily discover it and access it via mouse, touchpad, or touch. And Task view also provides access to Desktops, the virtual desktop feature described below.

Shake

It’s disabled by default, but Windows 11 still includes the fun Shake feature, which lets you “shake” an app or other window by its title bar to minimize all other windows. Then, you can shake it again to restore the previously minimized windows.

Snap

Windows has long included a feature called Snap that lets you arrange two or more apps or other open windows onscreen so that they can all be seen at the same time. But in Windows 11, Snap has been dramatically improved with Snap layouts and Snap groups.

Snap layouts provides a visual display of the available layouts so you can place the current window exactly where you want it and then use the preexisting Snap assist feature to place other windows in the remaining space.

Snap groups lets you recreate a previous Snap layout. Just mouse over one of the apps that was in the group you wish to reuse and then select the group, instead of the app, from the pop-up that appears.

Task Manager

Functionally, Task Manager works as before: it provides various system management features, the two most commonly used of which are task and startup apps management. And as before, it provides several views, including Processes (the default), Performance, App history, Startup apps, Users, Details, and Services.

For Windows 11, Task Manager receives a significant visual update that, among other things, now supports both Light and Dark modes. And it offers a new Efficiency mode feature that you can use to fix an app process that is over-stressing your computer’s CPU.

Tip: You can also launch Task Manager by typing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC.

Desktops

Windows 11 includes a virtual desktops feature that lets you logically organize your work into different desktops. For example, you may wish to display only those apps needed for a project on one desktop, or keep your gaming-related capabilities on another. Desktops isn’t new to Windows 11, but it’s now possible to name desktops and persist them across reboots.

Do not disturb and Focus assist

Microsoft has been evolving its approach to interruption-free productivity in Windows for several years, and in Windows 11, we see the latest rendition of this functionality via two related features, Do not disturb and Focus assist.

Do not disturb is a toggle that prevents notifications from interrupting you while you work. You can configure it to disable all notifications or to allow specific important notifications through. While Do not disturb is enabled, notifications are silently sent to the Notifications pane, where they can be reviewed later.

Do not disturb was called Focus assist in Windows 10.

Focus sessions is a new Windows 11 feature that allows you to set up and configure a block of time for deep work. In addition to enabling Do not disturb, which blocks notifications, Focus sessions disable Taskbar icon interruptions (via badges and flashing) and display a focus timer via the Clock app onscreen. Focus sessions can also integrate with Microsoft To Do and Spotify.

Tablet experience

Windows 11 offers a more integrated tablet experience than its predecessor, Windows 10, which provided a discrete tablet mode when you removed the keyboard from a tablet or 2-in-1 PC. With Windows 11, tablet mode is gone and the PC is automatically optimized for touch when you remove the keyboard. For example, Taskbar icons are more spread out so they’re easier to select with a finger. Here, you can see the Taskbar displayed normally on the top, compared with the look of the new tablet experience.

Additionally, Windows 11 supports new gestures related to accessing key user interfaces like Start, Quick settings, Snap layouts, and Widgets by swiping in from a screen edge.

Gaming

Microsoft is positioning Windows 11 as the future of PC gaming, with built-in support for key foundational technologies like DirectX 12 Ultimate, DirectStorage, and Auto HDR. But gamers will interact more commonly with two key gaming features: the Xbox app and Xbox Game Bar.

The Xbox app lets Xbox subscribers interact with their friends, browse and buy Xbox-capable PC games, access, install, and manage game titles from their libraries, and, if available, stream cloud-hosted games via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

The Xbox Game Bar provides a series of overlays that appear over the game you’re playing and let you take screenshots, record videos, broadcast live gameplay footage, interact with your friends, and more.

Improved Microsoft Store

The Microsoft Store has been completely redesigned for Windows 11 with a new look and feel and improved navigation. As before, it offers PC apps and games and a selection of movies and TV shows to buy (or, with movies rent).

Improved and new apps

Microsoft has updated many of the apps that it includes with Windows to adopt the new Windows 11 design. But it has also introduced some new apps with this release, including Chat from Microsoft Teams, Media Player, Microsoft Family, and Clipchamp, a surprisingly powerful video editor. And, of course, the Microsoft Edge web browser is updated regularly outside of the Windows servicing schedule.

Media Player replaces Groove Music from Windows 10 and adds video playback capabilities.

We will examine all of these changes and additions throughout the book.

Android Appstore and Android apps

Windows 11 users can optionally install the Amazon Appstore, which lets them browse for, buy, and manage a growing list of popular Android apps and games. (And more than a little crapware, unfortunately.)

Improved Settings

Like the Microsoft Store and other apps in Windows 11, Settings has been completely redesigned for Windows 11 with a new look and feel and improved navigation.

Tip: You can also launch Settings by typing WINKEY + I.

Accessibility improvements

Windows 11 builds on the already impressive accessibility capabilities of its predecessor. It brings forward existing tools like Closed captions, Magnifier, Narrator, and Windows Speech Recognition, often with many improvements. Ease of Access has been rebranded to the more obvious Accessibility in Settings. And there are two incredible new Accessibility features in this release: Live captions and Voice access. Live captions, shown below, provides captioning in real-time to any audio or video source, including online meetings. And Voice access builds on the other voice control capabilities in Windows—voice typing and Windows Speech Recognition—and lets you control Windows using just your voice.

Security improvements

Windows 11 soldiers forward with all of the security features from Windows 10. But it also includes some enhancements. Windows 11-based PCs must have Secure Boot and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chipset available and enabled, for example, which raises the security baseline for the entire ecosystem, for example. And Smart App Control takes the browser-based SmartScreen technologies from the past, improves them with AI-based application trust prediction capabilities, and integrates it directly into the operating system, ensuring that unsafe apps won’t run.

Command-line and automation improvements

Like its predecessor, Windows 11 ships with two command-line shells—the MS-DOS-like Command Prompt and Windows PowerShell—and you can optionally install one or more Linux command-line shells via the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) as well. But Windows 11 also includes a new application called Windows Terminal that lets you access these command-line environments—plus the Azure Cloud Shell—from a single, tab-based interface.

Windows 11 also ships with Microsoft’s Power Automate for desktop, a so-called “low-code” automation solution that helps you optimize workflows and automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks visually.

Servicing and updating improvements

With Windows 10, Microsoft introduced Windows as a service (Waas), a program by which it updated the product as if it were an online service, with two major upgrades, called feature updates, every year and multiple quality updates with security and bug fixes and other changes every month. The software giant also worked to ensure that updates would be less risky or unreliable than they had in the past, and it created ways it could update key system components outside of feature updates.

Windows 11 benefits from those changes, and it brings some new improvements of its own.

Now, feature updates arrive only once per year, in the second half of each year.

This explains Windows 11’s versioning scheme. The first release is called Windows 11 version 21H2 because it was released in the second half (H2) of 2021 (21), while the most recent release is 22H2.

And thanks to new packaging efficiencies, quality updates are, on average, about 40 percent smaller than their Windows 10 counterparts.

Of course, most of these changes will be invisible to users. And despite Microsoft’s promise to deliver just a single feature update each year, users received several functional updates during the first year of Windows 11’s release, and Microsoft says that it will continue to do so in the future.